‘I’m sorry I didn’t welcome you all properly last night,’ he went on. ‘But, as you know, we were all rather busy. Running this place takes a lot of time and effort and brainpower. But, well, I don’t suppose you want to hear too much about that.’

‘No, we don’t,’ said Achilleus, and some of the Holloway crew laughed. ‘We want to know what’s for lunch.’

‘Well, OK, that’s understandable,’ said Justin. ‘A menu for the day is posted every morning in the canteen. Today I think it’s baked potatoes and cabbage. To tell you the truth, it’s potatoes and cabbage most days at the moment. We rely on what we grow, and that’s rather limited.’

‘We’ll go shopping for you,’ said Achilleus. ‘It’s what we’re used to.’

‘We’ll get on to that,’ said Justin. ‘Now you’ve probably noticed that we’re quite well organized, but we’re only set up to cope with a certain number of people. Obviously having you lot here is going to make things harder. Um, well … everybody here has a job to do. We all pull our weight.’

‘If we’d realized it was such a problem we’d have waited,’ said Achilleus. ‘Let them grown-ups take a few more of you out. Would have been less mouths to feed. Sorry we messed everything up for you.’

‘Yes, point taken, but if you could let me speak …’

‘Listen, mate. If it weren’t for us you’d be speaking to an empty room. Either that or some greasy grown-up would be sinking his teeth into your fat butt.’

‘As I say, I appreciate that. God, of course I do. We’re very grateful for what you did.’

‘Right. Spot on. You shoulda started with that, yeah? It ain’t no afterthought. Instead of all that bullshit about cabbage and pulling your weight. We pulled our weight. We made this place safe. So say thank you.’

‘Thank you.’

‘And that’s all you need to say.’

‘Yes, sorry. It’s just I wasn’t prepared for this …’

‘That’s all you need to say.’

‘… I didn’t have a speech already written.’

‘Nobody asked for no speech, just some thanks and a little bread and water for our troubles.’

‘You’ll be well looked after,’ said Justin. ‘But I need to know what you all do. I suppose you’re in charge.’

‘Me?’ said Achilleus. ‘Get lost. I ain’t the leader. I’m a soldier not a politician, mate. They two back there – Maxie and Blue – they the bosses.’

Maxie smiled politely at Justin, even though she’d told herself she wasn’t going to. Blue gave a barely noticeable nod.

‘Well, maybe I could meet with you two in private afterwards,’ said Justin. ‘We could have a more detailed chat.’

‘We’ll do it now,’ said Blue, standing up. ‘This meeting is over.’

Chapter 13

13